J 708 



The Weekly Florists^ Review. 



Mav 



1906. 



rhubjuli \\;i> ri-ady tci lut li\o days ear- 

 ]it'r than tlic ntl:oi'. ami wliat is still 

 more iiiijxjitanl, tlic I'tlierizcd ])ro(liic't 

 gave a iniich laiyci' pioixirtioii of salable 

 stalks, making the treatinoiit from a 

 commercial viewjwint doubly valuable. 



It is not ililliciilt to treat the plants 

 uith tin' flhcr. the chief care being to 

 construct ;i suital)le box. The one used 

 at Cornell was an air-tight, galvanized 

 iron box three feet three inches by two 

 feet six inches. The box ■was fitted with 

 two trays, which Jiiade it ]Kissible to 

 ha\e three tii'i's of ]>lants undergoing 

 the exposure at once. 



The trays .should be made of hea\ y 

 wire mesh, in ordn' tlial the ether may 

 penetrate ecjually to every part of the 

 plant at once. In exposing .such ]dants 

 as the (lolden C.luw an<l a(|uilegia to tlie 

 ether .as nuicli dirt as ]iossible should be 

 shaken lidin the roots, in order io gi\ e 

 tlii^ ether free access to the roots. 



The cover tils down over the box for 

 al>out live inches, resting on a flange of 

 thick felt, which renders it air-tight. 

 When all the pro\ isions me eo:nplete. 



the ether is poured on a small ball of 

 felt, which i.s drojiiied in the box; the 

 cover is clami)ed down and the plants 

 left fron) twenty-four to forty-eight 

 hours. 



When the plants are taken from the 

 box they should be thoroughly aired be- 

 fon^ they are placed in the forcing 

 house. 



The subject of the etherization of 

 plants is only just begun, as these are 

 almost the first experiments that have 

 been made in this country. It promises, 

 however to open an entirely new field in 

 the realm of horticulture, and especially 

 in tlu' llorists' and the market gardeners' 

 line. 



The specimens grow \vith increased 

 rapidity, and the flowers are in many 

 cases nmre perfect and attain a fuller 

 maturity than those grown liy the ordi- 

 nary nu'thod. At the same time the 

 plant has the other and most valuable 

 advantage to the man who is growing 

 for commercial purposes, that he is en- 

 abled to be from one to three ^eeks 

 ahead of the season. 



several days -without rain without injury, 

 but if you have the wafer service close it 

 will pay you to run a ]>ipe out to the 

 field and Avafer them a few times until 

 they get a good hold. 



Every evening before quitting time 

 have one of the men go through the day's 

 planting with the liand cultivator to 

 loosen u]^ the soil where it has been 

 tramped down. 



Don't dump out too many plants 

 ahead of the ]>lanters, and when they 

 are dumped out keej) them out of the 

 sun and draught until you are ready to 

 plant them. It will surprise you how 

 rapidly they will dry out when out of the 

 pots. Be sure they are not dry when 

 you dump them. 



Be sure the plants are clear of insects, 

 too, because if they are infested with 

 spider or a])his wlieu you plant them 

 out the chances are you will have trouble 

 before the summer is over, and those 

 l>ests are harder to fight out in the field 

 than in the house. If there is disease, 

 pick off all the affected leaves as you 

 dump them; they will stand more chance 

 of getting rid of it then. 



A. r. .1. Baur. 



CARNATION NOTES. -WEST. 



Planting in the Field. 



After this job is once Ix'gun. it should 

 be put through just as <)uickly as pos- 

 siljle. ;ind the woi'k done properly. If 

 you jdant nut nuly a few tlnnisaiid and 

 onlv one or two nien work at it, it means 

 merely to stiik to it and work as rapiilly 

 as you can. I'.ut it you plant out an acre 

 or nioie ;nid se\t'i;il men W(irk on the 

 job, tiieii you want to inatigiirate some 

 system under which each oiu' Avill have 

 his jtart to jierform, and in the jKM-form- 

 iug of which he can work as rapidly as he 

 is cajtable of doing without interfering 

 with any of the others. If your force is 

 divided properly, none will have to wait 

 for the others. Oin' m:in should dumji 

 out ;is many jdants as two can ]dant and 

 tlu^se three, with :i boy to drop the plants 

 along the lini> and another l)oy to wheel 

 the trays full of idauts out to the field, 

 ought to S(>t out a good batch each day. 



As T have said before, we liave a one- 

 horse hillside j)low, and eaeh day plow 

 and harrow .as much as we expect to 

 ]ilant that day, which gi\es us freshly 

 turned sinl to set the plants in. We get 

 more and better work, and it is better 

 for the plants. Ilow close yw |ilant will 

 depend largeK- on how ninrh ginnnd you 

 have :inc| linw yon wish tii cidtiv.'ite tliem. 

 Those who ha\e huge tarni'- and ^ei oiil 

 iriany tliou^aiids nf iilaiit-- .-ind inteinl \i< 

 c\dti\;ite witli li'irsejiMWiT. i>f eourse must 

 set their I'l'ws two til tiiii'.' t'crt :ipart. 

 but most gi'iiwers jdaiit ejoNrr tli;in that 

 and use hand eidtivators. wliieii we tiiiid\ 

 i'^ the niMvf Mitisf;ictory. 



There ;iri' sever.al way< nt' pl.aiit ing. 

 and (\ach has its ad\oc;)ti-. < )iie w:iy ix 

 to pl.ant in inws sixteen iiiehes ajiart ami 

 eight inches apart in the row. These can 

 be culti\ated only one way nnd will ha\"e 

 to be hoed between the plants. The 

 other wav is to use ;i marker with teeth 



twelve iiH-hes apart. Yon jilant in rows 

 across the fiehi lengthwise, but before 

 you begin jilanfing you draw this marker 

 across the width of several rows so the 

 jdants will be set in straight rows across 

 the field crosswise as well as lengthwise. 

 The rows to be twelve inches apart, too. 

 This method enables you to cultivate both 

 ways and has some advantages in that 

 respect. .\n acre of ground planted in 

 this way will hohl 4,3,081 plants. 



When setting the plants use a trowel 

 and be sure the soil is pulverized. Set 

 each jilant just deep enough so the ball 

 is covei-ed with soil, and after pressing 

 well, cover again with loose soil to pre- 

 vent the soil from baking and from dry- 

 ing out. Of course you use a line to 

 jilant by. If the plants are from pots 

 and are jdanted jiroperly, they will stand 



CARNATION BEDS. 



AVe arc to grow carnations near Lon- 

 don, for the Coveut Garden market and 

 for stock. We are to plant a house 300 

 feet long with the American varieties 

 and want to know if they would do plant- 

 ed on raised drainage composed of climb- 

 ers about a foot thick. This would come 

 much cheaper to us than erecting 

 benches. Axxious. 



Some six years ago we made our first 

 experiments with this kind of beds and 

 we found them so satisfactory that we 

 now grow all our carnations on beds con- 

 structed as T shall explain. In making 

 our exj)eriments we constructed one bed 

 5x175 in a house which had three raised 

 benches. We planted this bed with the 

 same varieties that were planteu on the 

 raised bench just across the walk. We 

 did not keep count of the number of 

 blooms cut, nor the grading, but the ap- 

 pearance of the plants all through the 

 season was such as to leave no doubt as 

 to which style would give us the best re- 

 sults. As fast as the raised benches 

 needed replacing we took them out and 



Carnation House of J. J. Nussbaumer, San Angcio, Tex. 



